


New Year's Challenge

by artemisswan



Series: Holiday Specials [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, happy new year, rated f for fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-01
Updated: 2016-01-01
Packaged: 2018-05-10 21:07:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5600983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemisswan/pseuds/artemisswan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The challenge was just the thing Adrien needed to give him the drive to do what needed to be done. He wasn’t going to leave his best friend hung out to dry just because he couldn’t ask a simple question.</p><p>Highly recommend you read The Present first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Year's Challenge

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Year Miraculous Fandom! Here's to a good year!
> 
> Special shout out to my Beta, Faeblossom on Tumblr. Her fangirl squeals as I IM while I am writing and when she finally gets to read it gives me life.

Adrien would be lying if he said that he hadn’t been thinking about that mistletoe kiss since it happened. It wasn’t like it was his first kiss, he was a model after all, it was never a Valentine’s Day  shoot until he’s kissed someone. _It was just kiss_ , that’s what he keeps telling himself as it replays in his head over and over again. He thought he didn’t have room in his heart for anyone other than Ladybug, his Lady, but Marinette somehow managed to worm her way it by simply giving him a present and a wonderful kiss. A kiss that has been keeping him warm ever since, with assistance from the hat.

He let out a soft sigh as the kiss started to replay in his head yet again, whatever he was previously doing completely forgotten.

What he had been doing previously was listening to Nino tell him about what an embarrassment his older brother was, or something along those lines.

When it became obvious that he wasn’t listening anymore, Nino elbowed him. Adrien whipped his head around to glare at his best friend while rubbing his arm.

“Dude, if we’d known you were going to get this hung up on Marinette after just one little mistletoe kiss Alya and I would have came up with that plan years ago,” Nino said as he smirked at him knowingly.

“W-what?” Adrien yelped, eyes wide and face flushed. Nino chuckled and patted his shoulder.

“Welcome back to Earth,” he teased with a grin. “I’ll let you in on some information. Marinette isn’t here yet, but according to Alya she will be showing up around eleven and will be here until one. That means she’ll be here to ring in the new year, giving you the perfect opportunity to kiss her again and ask her out.”

“I-I never said I-”

“It’s written all over your face, dude,” Nino interrupted him, motioning to Adrien’s flushed cheeks and wide eyes. He scuffed and looked away from his friend, pout starting to form on his lips. “You’ve got it worse than I did when I had that crush on Chloe last year.”

“What about your crush on Alya this year?” Adrien asked with a sly grin and a mischievous glint in his eyes. Nino immediately blushed and glared at him, causing him to laugh. “Are you going to kiss _her_ at midnight?” he continued with a grin.

_Oh, how the tables have turned._

Nino’s glare turned playful and his frown turned back into a smirk.

“I’m just as likely to kiss Alya at midnight as you are to asking Marinette out on a date.”

Adrien raised an eyebrow and returned the playful glare and smirk.

“Is that a challenge, sir?”

“I believe it is.”

Nino reached out his hand and they shook on it.

The challenge was just the thing Adrien needed to give him the drive to do what needed to be done. He wasn’t going to leave his best friend hung out to dry just because he couldn’t ask a simple question. The was no way he could do it though, at least, not without having a mask on. He was going to let Chat out, but only a little bit, he didn’t want to scare her away. Would it happen before or after midnight he wasn’t sure, but he was definitely going to aim for before because he wanted to give Nino the incentive he needed to kiss his crush.

“What challenge did you two just make?” a new voice joined them. Alya motioned toward their hands, which were no falling back to their sides.

“Nothing for you to worry about,” Nino lied. “So, how long until Marinette shows up? Our friend here has something he needs to ask her.” Nino threw his arm around Adrien’s shoulders casually and Adrien glared at him, blushing. Alya gave Adrien a knowing grin, but, surprisingly, didn’t make a comment otherwise.

“She just texted me a little while ago that she was on her way so she should be here any time now,” she answered.

Adrien immediately stiffened, his blood running cold. He hasn’t _seen_ Marinette since the Christmas Party, much less _talked_ her.

Here he was thinking he could ask her out without a problem when being told she was about to show up was freaking him out.

On cue the doorbell rang. Grin on her face, Alya danced away to let in the newest arrival.

There must have been a scaredy-cat look on Adrien’s face because Nino patted his shoulder in reassurance with a chuckle.

“Chloe?!”

The both of the boys whipped around in horror. The figure standing in the doorway was, in fact, Chloe Bourgeois, with Sabrina right behind her.

Alya turned to look at Nino, her furious gaze asking _Did you invite her? Because I_ definitely _didn’t_. Nino put up his hands in innocence so Alya turned the look to Adrien, to which he mimicked Nino.

“Don’t sound so surprised,” Chloe scuffed as she shoved her coat into Alya’s arms. “Did you really think you could manage to have a party without me?”

“Considering we managed the Christmas Party without you, so yeah,” Nino whispered and Adrien fought back a chuckle. Alya glared at Chloe’s back as she threw Chloe’s coat into the closet without looking.

“Adrikins!~”

Nino and him simultaneously flinched as her shrill voice filled the air.  There was a couple groans from the classmates behind them, even a “Who invited _her_?” was whispered by Ivan.

She wrapped herself around Adrien’s arm in an instant. He fought the look of disgust that tried to surface as he lightly tried to tug his arm free. He sent Nino a pleading look, the last thing he needed right now was Chloe following him around for the rest of the night like a clingy toddler, but he knew there was nothing Nino could do. The DJ returned a sympathetic look before walking away to join Alya by the front door to wait for Marinette.

“This party sucks, Adrikins,” Chloe complained, hugging his arm tighter.

“You just got here,” he pointed out, but she ignored him.

“We should go back to your place and ring in the New Year together,” she suggested as she leaned up towards him and batted her eyelashes. Instinctively he leaned away from her, a disgusted look finally surfacing on his face.

“Chloe, if you didn’t want to be here then, why did you come?” he asked, anger starting to surface in his tone. It was one thing for her to show up to the party uninvited, but it was another thing for her to insult the party, a thus the people that were throwing it, when she hadn’t even been there for two minutes.

“I came to save you, of course,” she answered like it was common knowledge, though he probably should have guessed that that was what she was going to say. “I can’t believe they forced you to come here, I’m going to-”

“Chloe, stop!”

His voice scared both of them, but he recovered quickly. He took her shock as an opportunity to pull his arm away from her. Putting his hands on her shoulders and holding her at arm's length away from him, he bent down so their faces were level.

“No one is forcing me to be here. These people are my friends. The party is great. If you don’t want to be here then leave, but I want to be here so I’m staying.”

Her blue eyes stared at him, mouth gaping at him. The first thing that ran through his mind was that her blue eyes weren’t as beautiful as Marinette’s were.

_Where did that thought come from?_

Adrien waited a moment for Chloe to recover before deciding he really didn’t care about whatever else she had to say about the matter. He had said how he felt about her crashing the party and insulting it, he had nothing more to add.

Walking away from her, he joined Nino and Alya. He took note of the fact that Marinette had _not_ shown up yet, which made him frown.

“She texted to say there was a car accident she had to take a detour,” Alya answered him before he could get the question out. “She’ll be another minute or so.” He clamped his mouth shut and nodded before looking down at his feet.

That meant he had time to think about what he was going to say. He hasn’t talked to her since _before_ the kiss. After their friends had interrupted them he had distanced himself from her until he could regain his composer and manage to talk to her with stuttering, unfortunately before he could talk to her he had to leave, a last minute ( _very_ last minute) dinner that he had to be present for. Since then he hadn’t thought about what he would say to her next time he saw her, he had completely forgot about the New Year’s party until the reminder had gone off on his phone that morning.

“-be fine,” Alya was saying, but hadn’t been paying attention and he knew it was pointed at him.

“Don’t tell him that,” Nino huffed at her. “Let him squirm.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Oh good, he didn’t hear you. Now don’t repeat what you said,” he told Alya, cutting her off before a sound could leave her mouth. She sighed and shook her head, but didn’t say anything as she was told.

Adrien’s green eyes flicked between them. His internal dilemma was momentarily forgotten as his curiosity for what Alya had said heightened by the second.

He jumped when the doorbell rang suddenly. Alya rushed away to the door was a squeal, Adrien’s eyes following her as his heart started to pound loudly in his ears.

Nino suddenly wrapped an arm around him and turned him away from the door before Alya opened it.

“She’s frozen to the middle of the floor,” he told him, motioning to Chloe, who was still standing in the middle of the living room. Her eyes was staring off into space and Sabrina was desperately trying to get her attention.

_I hope Hawkmoth is taking New Year’s off._

“Any chance you know someone with a dolly we can borrow so we can move her?” Nino joked, causing Adrien to let out a soft chuckle.

“I have one, but I didn’t bring it with me,” a sweet voice spoke behind them. “What happened to her?”

Adrien and Nino turned around and Adrien immediately flushed.

Marinette was wearing a beautifully crafted navy blue quilted vest over a form fitting long sleeve white shirt. The cognac brown matte belt on her faded skinny jeans matched her mid calf high leather boots. The look was pulled together by the navy blue and cognac brown check scarf.

She looked beautiful. When he thought about it, she always looked beautiful, he was just too blinded by his love for Ladybug to notice. He was having trouble looking anywhere but at her, much less pay attention to Alya and Nino’s explanation of what happened with Chloe.

Adrien jumped when Nino’s elbow collided with his arm for the second time that night.

“Stop staring, it’s creepy,” Nino hissed at him. A blush immediately bloomed on his cheeks and his eyes widened in horror.

“S-sorry,” he stuttered out. He looked off to the side at the ground and rubbed the back of his neck as embarrassment consumed him. He heard her murmur quietly, but he didn’t quite make it out.

“Nino, why don’t you come help me get everything set up for the countdown,” Alya suddenly said. Adrien’s head snapped back up, looking at Alya with wide eyes.

_ She isn’t serious about leaving us alone is she? _

“What do you eve-” Nino started to ask with a confused look, which turned to surprise when Alya suddenly grabbed his hand and pulled him with her towards the others. If it were any other situation Adrien would have laughed at his friend as he got tugged away by his crush, but it wasn’t any other situation. It was _this_ situation.

Silence extended awkwardly between them as they refused to look at each other. Adrien opted to glance over his shoulder to check on what state Chloe was in. He was surprised to find that she wasn’t there anymore. His eyes scanned the room in search for her, wondering if she was hiding in a corner somewhere, waiting to pounce.

“S-she left while you were, uh... d-distracted,” Marinette told, as if reading his mind.

“Oh, well, at least that’s one less problem to worry about,” he said, turning back to her though still refusing to look at him. “Now we’re back to zero.” She let out a soft giggle and he made no attempt to stop the Chat-like grin that formed on his lips. His eyes finally fell on her face and he was sad to find her’s were still focused on the floor.

_Come on, Agreste! You can do this! It’s just one simple question. Don’t think about the possibility of her saying no. Ohh..._

“One minute until the countdown starts,” Alya announced.

“We should join everyone else,” Marinette said, moving to walk away. Without thinking, Adrien reached out a grabbed her wrist.

“Marinette, wait,” he said, his voice coming off a little more pleading than he would have liked. Her blue eyes turned back to him and his breath hitched.

_Beautiful..._

“I-I wanted to ask you something,” he started. He straightened and he rubbed the back of his neck. His mouth suddenly felt dry and whatever words that had been on the tip of his tongue were now long gone. Face hot, his green eyes remain fixed on her blue ones. Blue like the sunniest day of summer.

“Uhh...”

Once he noticed the sound wasn’t just in his head he quickly gulped and cleared his throat.

_Just channel Chat._

But for some reason Chat was nowhere to be found. All that was left was shy, little Adrien.

_It’s now or never._

“Wouldyouliketogooutforcoffee?” he suddenly blurted out so quickly that he didn’t know what he just said for sure. Marinette looked at him with a confused and slightly concerned gaze, he didn’t blame her. “Let me try that again,” he told her. This time he took a deep breath before speaking, making sure to focus on getting the words out at a normal speed.

“Would you like to go out for coffee sometime? With me. Just the two of us.”

_..._

Marinette blinked up at him blankly and he returned it, though his may have not been _as_ blank. Slowly her face grew red and her eyes widened, the words finally sinking in he guessed.

Adrien grew more nervous the longer she remained silent, the countdown creeping up on them.

“Ten!”

His head suddenly snapped in the direction of his classmates, eyes wide.

“Nine!”

Nino smirked at him.

“Eight!”

“Yes!” Marinette suddenly squeaked out before her hands clamped over her grin.

“Seven!”

“Yes?” he asked, his voice hoarse in disbelief.

“Six!”

She nodded frantically in confirmation, grin still plastered on her face.

“Five!”

He grinned back at her, letting the happy feeling of ladybug’s fluttering around in his stomach sink in.

“Four!”

Adrien reached towards her and touched her cheek. The same cheek he had cradled in his palm when they had their mistletoe kiss.

“Three!”

He took a step towards her to close the distance between them, his eyes never leaving hers.

“Two!”

She wasn’t standing on a step this time so he had to lean down to close of the distance between them. Her eyelids drooped as their labored breathing began to mingle.

“One!”

He quickly threw his free hand up with a thumbs up in the general direction of Nino as he closed the last remaining distance between his and Marinette’s lips.

“Happy New Year!”

Adrien kissed Marinette with all the emotions he has in denial of since their first kiss. He brought his free hand back into to cradle her head in his hands. Her arms wound around his waist and pulled him closer to him. His grin was bright against her lips as he kissed her.

All the whoops and cheers going on on the other side of the room faded away as all of his senses became hyper aware of Marinette and Marinette alone.

The way her lips tasted as he caught her bottom lip between his. The feeling of his fingers threading into her hair, he was more than sure she was going to have to redo her pigtails. The delicious smell of fresh cookies, bread, and macaroons mixed with a very pleasant flowery scent. The most beautiful sound he has ever heard when she let out a soft, pleased moan as his tongue flicked across her lip.

He wouldn’t be surprised if she could feel his thundering heartbeat under her hands that were flat against his back, holding him in place against her. Her fingers were pressed into his spine causing him to shiver involuntarily.

Reluctantly, Adrien had to pulled away from her so they could both catch their breaths. He leaned his forehead against her’s, their panting breaths mingling. Eyes open, he examined her flushed face and kiss swollen lips. She looked thoroughly kissed and a pride swelled in his chest.

_She let me do that._

Blue eyes slowly opened to meet his and he grinned at her. He moved to wrap his arms around her shoulders and hug her. She buried her face in his chest and he pressed his nose into her hair, drinking in her scent.

After a moment of just holding each other he decided he needed to check on Nino to make sure he kept up his side of the challenge.

Looking over his shoulder he spotted Alya and Nino standing in the middle of everyone. There was a dazed look on her face as she stared at Nino in wonder. He stared right back at her with a soft smile on his lips and an adoring look in his eyes.

Adrien smiled to himself.

_The challenge definitely worked out for the both of us._

He squeezed Marinette tightly and picked her up. She squealed and wiggled in his grip. Kissing the top of her head, he set her back down with a chuckle.

Drawing away from him, she gave him a playful glare with a smile on her lips. A smile he was more than happy to return.

_This is going to be a good year._


End file.
